Can a feel-good spy drama set during the Cold War era still work today?
It can—AND DOES—when helmed by director / producer Steven Spielberg with Tom Hanks in the starring role.
In BRIDGE OF SPIES Hanks plays an attorney specializing in insurance cases. But a recently captured Soviet spy now has the Feds pressuring Hanks’ boss Alan Alda to allow him to defend the bad guy. You know, to make it look like our democratic process is really working—you get the picture.
Because everybody knows the spy is going to fry in the electric chair, right?
But not so fast!
Hanks takes his job really seriously but loses the case when his client is found guilty on all counts.
Meanwhile the U.S. is launching the top secret high altitude, U-2 spy plane program. And when the first plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, is shot down over the Soviet Union, Hanks proposes a spy EXCHANGE!
The government likes the idea and the Soviets are warming to it.
However it all has to go down in Berlin—EAST Berlin.
And it’s damn cold there in more ways than one.
And just when everything seemed on track for the swap, the CIA decided to add an American student held by the East Germans to the exchange. A 2-for-1 deal that wasn’t playing well with officials of the German Democratic Republic.
All as the Berlin Wall is going up!
So how did it all play out?
You won’t find it out here.
Suffice it to say the story was INSPIRED by true events and presented in a subtle and often witty style with dialogue courtesy of the Coen Brothers who co-wrote the screenplay.
Events portrayed in the film actually take place between 1957 and 1962.
Yet Spielberg’s talents seamlessly condense the story’s five year span of the Duck-and-Cover era.
A special nod to Broadway actor Mark Rylance, cast here as a plain, nondescript Soviet spy. A performance that could very well earn him a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
Oh, and Tom Hanks will most likely be nominated for Best Actor while Mr. Spielberg could very well garner another Best Director nomination.
Will this Cold War spy thriller be honored with a Best Picture nomination? Why not.
THIS spy very much DOES come in from the cold……
And while the movie may have an overly-long running time of 142 minutes, it sure doesn’t seem like it.
To me that really says something.
BRIDGE OF SPIES, an A- rated cold war spy drama opening citywide.
(Reviewed at AMC, Olathe)
JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Friday mornings during Kansas City’s Morning News with E.J. & Ellen on 98.1 FM, KMBZ.
thanks for the heads up Jack. Another great review from the movie meister. Can’t wait to see it.
Hanks and Spielberg were on CBS this morning. Funny to hear them talk about saying hi to each other as they drove their kids to school each morning.
Looks like Hanks’ wife is played by Holly from The Office.
The history is really amazing. For come odd reason, the name Francic Gary Powers is a name I remember, and it is pertinent today with the MH17 affair in the Ukraine. The Soviet Union developed missile technology faster than the US, at the time, but the US had better aircraft technology, flying higher. However, it was a case of the military underestimating Soviet technology. Whether the names were made up to protect the innocent, or not, the name, Donovan, was not unknown to the CIA, as in Wild Bill, one of the central creators in CIA history. I look forward to seeing the movie, as I am a history buff. Kudos to Spielberg for finding the subject.
Didn’t I already see this movie back in the 70’s starring The Six Million Dollar Man?
This sounds like a snooze fest. Everything about the cold war is boring as hell. Let’s face it, there was no war..thank God, but it makes for a boring subject matter for a movie. Let’s relive those tense moments that led to not a war…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Well, you are right, but at the time, my parents were pretty nervous about it, as were many other folks. We all knew, on my block, where the bomb shelter was (Across the street and 4 houses up.) and we all practiced going there once a summer in the early 60’s. While I am now, opposed to poking the Russian Bear and aiming missiles at them from Poland, they were a serious danger 60 years ago.
Yeah but our Govt. and media made us way more fearful than we really had reason to be.
Yep, you’re right.
you are kdding, of course
about…?